1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to software applications, and more particularly, to a system and method for interactive process management.
2. Related Art
Business models give the organization a common focus, help create the core processes that drive new business opportunities, and serve as a common language between business and technology experts. These processes define an organization's ability to execute its business plans and optimize its operations.
Heretofor, business process-modeling and process linkage tools and techniques have attempted to provide both a blueprint for analyzing how processes are related and executed as well as a road map for creating the most efficient processes for new business initiatives. However, process knowledge has not been disseminated in a user friendly fashion that is cost effective to maintain current, particularly with respect to processes that are not static, but dynamic in nature. As process information is collected, typically textual documents, graphic presentations, line of visibility process models, and chevron diagrams that articulate graphically processes, process relations, linkages and process scorecards and related process performance measurements for each of the processes are created. Preparing, maintaining and updating such a growing body of process information requires considerable resource allocation cost to a company.
Using conventional applications, displaying the process linkages in a world map format becomes more challenging as more is learned and added to the world map because the mass of interconnecting lines and linkage descriptions reduces readability. Most solutions segment the information into separate pieces. In addition, conventional mapping solutions can present only a step-by-step accounting of what occurs in the process.
Conventional process modeling tools are drawing tools such as Visio, PowerPoint and Proforma Provision. These tools let users diagram business processes and information systems. However, such drawing tools can address only a finite list of the many existing activities and new processes. Preparing process linkages documentation and keeping the documentation updated as additional information is learned takes a significant number of resources.
In addition, compliance with the requirements of new laws, such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, particularly for documentation of financial processes and internal controls that pass external auditors' scrutiny, has resulted in significant increases in expenditures for external audit, legal and consulting fees, not to mention the increase in man-hours for already overburdened financial staffs.
Given the foregoing, what is needed is a system, method and computer program product for interactive process management that can provide an end-to-end solution for depicting the full breadth of data related to processes and provides a set of functions supporting the definition of related process steps and the management of the execution across a variety of hardware and software platforms.